simon curwen artist animals allegory myth art

Primarily, my work is concerned with allegorical narrative, animal imagery and the dialogue of paint between the image and myself. The ideas for these recent paintings begin in all manner of resources such as dreams, photographs, memories and literature. Responding and reacting to marks, layers and compositions in the paint and reflection on the work in progress play an important part in the making of the pieces. I approach my art practice with the intention of making engaging, thoughtful and imaginative paintings.

In our fairly universal understanding of traditional animal symbolism, ingrained in us since childhood, animal imagery is used to convey very human values. We all know that the lion is noble king, the wolf predatory villain and the owl wise council. These traditional animal signs are occasionally used in my work, but I am more interested in the many other animals that carry less symbolic value, and thereby create more ambiguous associations. Combined with environments containing evidence of human presence and various props, these uncertain animals conjure up strange and evocative moods and atmospheres. The animal characters are sometimes complemented, but are mostly conflicted by their environments that I place them in. The combination of fitting these various elements together to create different atmospheres, moods, ideas and themes is that which fascinates me and drives me to make these paintings.

Ideologically, my practice is firmly rooted in the painterly, expressive/allegorical tradition. Naturally, paintings dating from the Renaissance to the contemporary inform my work; the works of Walter Sickert and Paula Rego being most relevant to my practice. Writings such as myths, fairy tales and other literature, though not appearing as direct references within my work, make their influences known. As does my love of cinema; notably the pioneering work of two very different film makers, Hal Hartley and Jan Svankmajer.

I am also interested in the way that my works can be perceived so differently; how I can invite the viewer to project their own interpretations onto my work through combining recognisable and unfamiliar imagery. The works' titles hint at my thoughts, ideas and feelings while painting the pieces and reflection on them when they are finished. I hesitate to explain individual works, as I do not wish to consign the paintings' meanings to words. The visual language should give much more than verbal conclusions can.